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11. Understanding the European Union’s regional potential in low-carbon technologies

Author:
Enrico Bergamini and Georg Zachmann
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
This research identifies existing and potential specialisation in green technologies in European Union regions, and proposes an approach to identify policies that can help to realise this potential. Using the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s REGPAT database for regionalised patent data, we estimate the potential advantage European NUTS2 regions could have in 14 green technologies. We use network proximity between technologies and between regions to understand technological/regional clusters, and build the regressors for estimating potential regional advantage in specific technologies via zero-inflated beta regressions. We construct a dataset of lagged potentials and labour market, economic and demographic variables, and perform an elastic net regularisation to understand the association with current revealed advantages. Our approach indicates an association between technological advantage in green technologies in EU regions and participation rates in labour markets, sectoral employment in science and technology, general higher education, duration of employment, percentage of GDP spent on research and development (public and private), and other expenditure on R&D. If confirmed by causality tests, the established associations could help in designing horizontal economic policies to enable specific regions to realise their specialisation potential in specific green technologies.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Industrial Policy, European Union, Green Technology, and Decarbonization
Political Geography:
Europe

12. Greening the recovery by greening the fiscal consolidation

Author:
Ben McWilliams, Simone Tagliapietra, and Georg Zachmann
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
In the wake of COVID-19, some economic recovery policies will help green the economy – for example, energy renovation of buildings. But there are limits to the share of stimulus that can be explicitly green. The European Union should therefore also green the fiscal consolidation by setting out the path to much higher carbon prices than today. This would guide investment and provide revenues to help the fiscal consolidation.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, European Union, Economy, Renewable Energy, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Europe

13. A European carbon border tax: much pain, little gain

Author:
Ben McWilliams and Georg Zachmann
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
The European Commission should not make the implementation of a carbon border adjustment mechanism into a must-have element of its climate policy. There is little in the way of strong empirical evidence that would justify a carbon-adjustment measure. Moreover, significant logistical, legal and political challenges will arise during the design. The EU should instead focus upon the implementation of measures to trigger the development of a competitive low-carbon industry in Europe.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, European Union, Trade Policy, and Carbon Tax
Political Geography:
Europe

14. The European Union-Russia-China energy triangle

Author:
Georg Zachmann
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
We argue that energy relations between the EU and Russia and between China and Russia influence each other. We analyse their interactions in terms of four areas: oil and gas trading, electricity exchanges, energy technology exports and energy investments. We discuss five key hypotheses that describe the likely developments in these four areas in the next decade and their potential impact on Europe: 1. There is no direct competition between the EU and China for Russian oil and gas 2. China and the EU both have an interest in curbing excessive Russian energy rents 3. The EU, Russia and China compete on the global energy technology market, but specialise in different technologies 4. Intercontinental electricity exchange is unlikely 5. Russia seems more worried about Chinese energy investments with strategic/political goals, than about EU investments We find no evidence of a negative spillover for the EU from the developing Russia-China energy relationship. But, eventually, if these risks – and in particular the risk of structural financial disintermediation – do materialise, central banks would have various instruments to counter them.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Oil, and Europe Union
Political Geography:
Russia, China, and Europe

15. How to make the European Green Deal work

Author:
Gregory Claeys, Simone Tagliapietra, and Georg Zachmann
Publication Date:
11-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
European Commission president-designate Ursula von der Leyen has made climate change a top priority, promising to propose a European Green Deal that would make Europe climate neutral by 2050. Th e European Green Deal should be conceived as a reallocation mechanism, fostering investment shifts and labour substitution in key economic sectors, while supporting the most vulnerable segments of society throughout the decarbonisation process. Th e deal’s four pillars would be carbon pricing, sustainable investment, industrial policy and a just transition.
Topic:
Climate Change, International Security, Sustainable Development Goals, Global Warming, and Green Technology
Political Geography:
Europe, Global Focus, and European Union